Balloon boy parents to plead guilty
Richard Heene will plead guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, his attorney David Lane said.
Mayumi Heene — a Japanese citizen who could have been deported if convicted of more serious charges — will plead guilty to false reporting to authorities, he said.
Prosecutors have agreed to allow both to serve probation sentences, Lane said. The October 15 event raised questions about whether the couple were fit parents, and social workers were contacted. Lane didn’t address whether the pleas would include monitoring of the couple, and prosecutors did not immediately return phone calls.
The most serious of the charges recommended by Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden would have carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
Keeping the family together was a main factor in reaching the deal, Lane said.
“Upon reviewing the evidence, arguably, Mayumi could have possibly ended up being deported and Richard could have proceeded to trial and had a good chance at an acquittal,” Lane said. “This, however, would have put the family at grave risk of seeing a loving, caring wife and mother ripped from the family and deported. That was not an acceptable risk, thus these pleas.”
